Heart of a Child
by wolfsrainrules
Summary: The Guardians were slowly coming to realize that even though Jack was over 300 years old, he had the heart and body of a child, which was a good thing. Jack Centered Drabble fic for in between Guardian of Magic. I take requests for this!
1. Chapter 1

**I hate me sometimes…Not really, but I do hate my hyperactive Muse. **

**Rise of the Guardians has COMPLETELY in every way earned my love and devotion. That of mine and that of my muse. So here I am again.**

**This time with Jack centered drabbles. Which means really short. BUT I AM TAKING REQUESTS FOR THIS SO…review away my lovelies! **

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The heart of a child is a tricky thing.

It loves and is kind and it is joyous. It is generous and filled with wonder.

It is also, however, hates, it is mean and spiteful. It is selfish and filled with fear.

But most of all, it is forgiving.

It is willing to open itself up again, even to those who have hurt it.

Jack was eternally frozen as a child and as such he had the heart of one.

In time, the Guardians would learn this.

Because, after all, Jack's heart had let them in again.

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**This **literally** came out of nowhere and beat me over the head with a bat.**

**A metal bat. While screaming "WRITE ME" Inspired by the realization that despite my age, I will eternally have the heart of a child.**


	2. Chapter 2

**These are quick and fun, and give my muse something to jump between (he does that a lot). The requests will work their ways in! Promise!**

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Jack knew he was childish sometimes.

He knew he was quick to anger, and quick to be annoyed, and easily distracted. He knew he was distracting, and he always wanted to have fun, to move and just _go_, to do things, and help-even when he ended up making the situation worse. He was loyal to a fault once that loyalty was earned, he was fun, and loved to laugh and cause laughter.

He knew all these things, and he honestly couldn't help it.

It was who he was.

Each of these things were fundamental parts of himself.

Each and every one of his traits added up to make 'Jack Frost' and he would never wish these traits away, because then he wouldn't be himself.

As time progressed the Guardians were slowly discovering each of these traits and more. They were learning, with each passing day with each passing hour, that Jack was a complex individual despite his childish antics. Every time they thought they figured him out Jack would throw them for a loop by doing something unexpected.

There were times where his eyes would cloud over and darken, and the Guardians would see the boy who had been left completely and utterly isolated in a crowded world for 300 long years, and they would wonder to themselves _"How is he as well adjusted as he is? How can he be willing to except us into his life _at all_ after we left him alone for 300 years? How can he be willing to laugh with us, and bring laughter and fun into our lives?"_ and they wondered to themselves as they learned more about him _"How could_ we _have left him alone for so long? Why did we think that was a good idea? How have we have survived without the little rascal flying around our heads making it snow lightly inside, freezing the railings and the floors, with his laughter echoing through the halls? How could we have missed all that Jack is?"_

And when these realizations dawned on the Guardians they were never more glad that MiM had sent Jack their way, with all his mischief and his unexpectedly sweet thoughtful gestures, and left them with an eternity to make it up to him.


	3. Chapter 3- Tribute

**Today, I am asking all my readers to bow their heads in a moment of silence and/or prayer for the children ****and their families involved in the ****Newton School Massacre. Twenty children and Seven adults. Every one of them dead. They'll never open their eyes again. Never grow older. Never experience high school, Prom, the love of their families, nothing.**

**20 children all between the ages of five and ten.**

**Dead.**

**Murdered.**

**Take a moment for them and bow your heads please.**

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MiM was a Guardian of children.

He was the very first, even predating Sandy.

Even with all his centuries watching over the Earth, with all the things he had seen and heard, there was one thing he never understood, one thing he absolutely despised.

The death of a child.

MiM understood that sometimes things just happened, like a Stillborn, or Cancer, or something unpreventable.

He understood that, he didn't like it, but he understood.

But he hated, with every fiber of his being, the unnecessary deaths of Children.

Children were precious and innocent. They were untainted and waiting to be guided with a kind but firm hand. They were meant to be protected and treasured.

They were meant to be full of Joy, Wonder, and Hope. They were meant to have fun and laugh and create happy memories. They were never meant to have their light snuffed out so suddenly with their entire life ahead of them.

This was never meant to happen.

Never this.

They were never meant to be murdered without reason. Without mercy. So many little ones have died this night. Every one of them gone from the world. The youngest was five and the oldest was ten.

Twenty lives.

All between five and ten.

Gone.

They would never experience Joy, Happiness, Hope, Wonder, Laughter, or Fun again. They would never experience anything again.

Because one man had brought a gun into an Elementary School and murdered them.

MiM was not a vindictive person by nature, but he hoped the gunman spent an eternity in fear and pain for what he had done.

This should never have happened.

MiM would remember this night, and he would mourn for many years to come.

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**This is my tribute. It isn't much, but it is something. I'll ask again for my readers to bow their heads in ****remembrance and prayer for the victims of the ****Newton School Massacre and their families.**

**Be thankful for what you**_** have**_** before you have to remember what you **_**had.**_

**December 14, 2012.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Someone requested 'Heat' and another requested 'Injured Jack; Worried Guardians' I shoved them together and here we are! (You got to admit: the requests went well together) **

**Did you know North was a Treasure Hunting Wizard Thief before he was Santa? **

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North was normally a calm man.

He worked at his shop and watched after the Globe of Belief. He kept the elves from causing too much trouble, and he double checked the yetis work making changes where they were needed.

With so much to do, North had to be a calm man.

North is also, however, an honest man.

He wasn't going to lie. When Jack didn't return the morning after he left to do his frost run through the deserts of the world, dropping the temperatures to freezing levels without any snow, North started to worry. He didn't panic, because Jack had spent 300 years in a nomadic lifestyle, and had a habit of wondering off, but he worried.

When the early morning hours passed into the afternoon hours North started to feel a bit more worry, and he became unable to work on any ice prototype toys because he continuously left his office to see if Jack had come in yet.

Jack may still have a habit of wondering off, but he always came back to the North Pole every few hours, even if it was just to talk some of the yetis into playing elf-bowling, or to prank someone- usually Phil- to 'keep them on their toes'.

As another hour passed North felt his stomach drop.

That was bad.

The last time his stomach had done that was just before the incident with Pitch.

He started pacing, listing all the places Jack could be in his mind, and he spun on his boot clad foot, just about to head for the sleigh and systematically work his way through his list of 'Jack could be here' areas when he heard the front doors open.

For a fleeting moment, he thought it was Jack, and then he heard the hyper voice of Tooth and the slightly bored voice of Bunny, and the hope was gone.

"North where's Frostbite? I can see yer floors mate. There's no ice."

North walked right passed the both of them, noticing Sandy was there as well, calling back to answer Bunny "He's not here. Something is wrong. I feel it in my belly."

There was silence for only a beat, and then there were footsteps and the slight humming noise of Tooth's wings as they caught up to North. "Where was he?"

North answered Tooth's question "Jack vas freezing desert."

This time there was two beats of silence as they absorbed that and then they sped up, their minds whirling with all the different things that could have happened to Jack.

"D-Do you think something is wrong?" Tooth fretted wringing her hands together.

"I feel it in my belly. Something happened." North was pulling the reindeer out and the Yetis that were always in the area helped him get everything ready. Bunny didn't hesitate to get in the sleigh. He _hated_ it with a burning fury passion, but Jack was more important than his fear. Tooth, Sandy and North slipped inside the sleigh as well and North snapped the reigns sharply. The reindeer shot forward and not a sound was uttered as they moved through the loop-de-loops and took off towards the Deserts.

North and the others worked their way through each desert they passed as quickly as they could, becoming antsier the longer it took to find Jack.

They almost passed over him when they finally did find him, after what felt like looking through 1,000 deserts, and they had worked themselves up into an almost-panic.

Jack lay on the desert sand without movement. Bunny was the one to actually find him, managing to spot Jack's white hair on the desert sand.

The sleigh was landed carefully but quickly while Bunny, Tooth, and Sandy all hopped or flew down the last few feet to Jack's side. North was beside them almost instantly.

All the Guardians stared in horror at their youngest member.

Jack had bruises on his face, his clothes were torn baring the cuts beneath to the sand, his skin was actually red in what looked like a normal blush but the Guardians knew was actually an indicator of a very serious case of heatstroke or fever, his staff lay just out of his reach snapped in half, and his eyes were open but unseeing.

There was a heart stopping moment of silence where all the Guardians thought he was dead.

Bunny was the first to snap out of his horror and notice that Jack was breathing, he could hear it- shallowly, barely, but he was breathing. He picked him up and quickly gathered the two halves of his staff and jumped into the sleigh snapping "Let's go! We don't 'ave time fer this! We gotta go or 'e will be dead!"

North and the others rushed after him and North quickly pulled out a snow globe and snapped "North Pole!" seconds later they were through a portal and Bunny- who hadn't let go of Jack- was out of the sleigh and running as quick as he could without further hurting Jack towards the Infirmary with the others rushing behind him.

Jack was carefully put in the bed closest to the window which was opened immediately by Sandy while Bunny settled Jack down and North rushed to gather supplies with Tooth's help. Bunny set Jack's staff on the nearby table and came back ignoring the freezing air that seemed to be almost frantically swirling around Jack's still form. Bunny carefully began removing Jack's hoodie and pants tossing them to the side and leaving Jack in a pair of light blue boxers. It also left all of Jack's injuries visible.

Every inch of the boy's body was covered in bruises, shallow and deep cuts covered his chest, back and legs, his lip was busted, his ankle was swollen, there was a messy wound in his side where it looked like someone tried to stab him and Jack jerked away in time to prevent the stab from hitting its intended target, but not enough to prevent a partial stabbing and there was a wound on his wrists that looked like some type of rope burn.

Bunny closed his eyes _"When I find out who did this…"_ he took a deep breath and grabbed the bowl of cool water and the washcloth Sandy was offering. Sandy had his own cloth and bowl and they carefully began to clean the desert sand out of his injuries both working on one side of his body. Throughout it all Jack didn't stir and just kept shallowly breathing. Both of them focused on that sound carefully. As long as they could hear that it meant Jack was alive.

Tooth flew in with a vial in her hands. "Bunny, lift him up. This will lower his body temperature, but we need to get him to drink it." Bunny carefully lifted Jack's upper body ignoring how his head just seemed to loll back and braced him up. Tooth moved closer, her normally happy kind eyes burning with fury at whoever dared to do this to her baby, her Sweet Tooth, as she popped the cork out of the vial and opened his mouth. Sandy floated up and carefully rubbed Jack's throat as Tooth slowly poured the contents of the vial into his mouth so he would swallow. Once the vial was gone Tooth flew out to continue helping North gather medicines and Sandy and Bunny went back to cleaning the cuts on Jack's body of the desert sand.

This continued for another five minutes before North and Tooth came into Infirmary with arms full of supplies which they placed on the nearby counter specifically meant to hold supplies. They came over to Bunny, Sandy and Jack holding antibiotic paste and bandages in their hands. Sandy and Bunny had managed to clean most of Jack's wounds working together leaving only the stab wound and the rope burns with a few cuts on his face left to clean. Sandy had already sent Phil to get clean water twice, and was placing his cloth down to send Phil off a third time when North and Tooth came in. Sandy nodded at them slipping passed to the door. Phil was standing there with two bowls of clean water and Sandy nodded his thanks as Phil followed him back in to switch out the bowls. As soon as they had clean water Sandy and Bunny started working together to finish cleaning out the rest of Jack's wounds while Tooth and North started lightly rubbing the antibiotic paste into Jack's legs and wrapping them up.

The room was eerily silent except for Jack's shallow breathing as the Guardians worked together to heal their youngest member, carefully feeding him some of the potions North had gathered from his storage cupboard in between cleaning and bandaging his wounds. With each rasping breath Jack took a mixture of relief- _he's still breathing_- and anger-_ who _dared_ to lay a hand on him_- filled their bodies.

When they found out who had done this to Jack…

As the potions and the pastes took effect Jack's breathing became easier and most of his shallow cuts and bruises healed up leaving some of the deeper cuts on his back and chest and the stab wound.

Sandy carefully wrapped his Dream Sand around Jack's wrists and ankles trying to lift the unconscious boy off the bed so his back could be tended. No one expected Jack's reaction as he shot up out of unconsciousness a cry of panic and remembered pains on his lips as he lunged away from the Guardians and hunkered down in a position that could quickly become offensive or defensive at a moment's notice. Sandy had released him as soon as the cry left his mouth and now all the Guardians were staring at the pale face of an unseeing Jack Frost.

North took a step forward calling carefully "Jack?"

Jack's voice was a snarl- like a cornered animal- as he replied "Back off! Leave me be! I told you already! I didn't make the choice!"

North froze calling out again "Jack Vhat are you talking about?"

Jack stepped back, arms wrapped around his stomach as he focused on North without actually seeing him and bared his teeth in a purely animalistic instinctual gesture. "You've already snapped my staff, Leave me alone!"

North stepped back, realizing Jack wasn't actually seeing 'North' but rather whoever had hurt him. Bunny tried this time speaking up from Jack's left "Oi. Frostbite. Yer safe now mate."

Jack's eyes snapped in Bunny's direction and back to North as he shifted his weight and slowly circled so he could have them both perfectly in view, not having noticed Sandy or Tooth yet. Jack answered Bunny in the same animalistic snarling voice that was anything but the playful mischievous, amused tone they had become used too "If you don't back up right now I will hurt you staff or no staff." Bunny- an experienced martial artist- noticed as Jack shifted his weight forward in preparation for an attack and braced himself.

Jack was stuck in a flashback right now. He didn't recognize anyone or anything. He was going to try and fight them, but Bunny refused to hurt Jack when he wasn't in his right mind and was reacting in response to past terror he was stuck reliving. Jack needed him and the others. He needed their help to escape the dark place in his mind that he was stuck in, and they would give him that help.

"Frostbite…Jack. Yer safe. Yer in the North Pole. Yer gonna be fine. Ya hear me Jack?"

Jack's eye narrowed dangerously and he took a threatening step forward, Tooth spoke up next making Jack's eyes snap to hers "Sweet Tooth, oh Sweet Tooth, we would never hurt you. It's ok. No one is going to hurt you here, I promise."

Jack paused as if he didn't understand, and Sandy sent a trendily of sand towards Jack carefully avoiding wrists and ankles as he carefully wrapped the sand around Jack's chest up his arm and back in a comforting move carefully tracing all the areas he had been injured- even the places where the wounds had been healed.

Jack slowly straightened up, his lip lowering from its curled position and his eyes clearing and actually focusing on the Guardians for the first time since he had jumped to his feet. "S-Sandy? North? B-Bunny? Tooth? Guys…?" Jack looked at each of them and as the adrenaline and fear that had fueled Jack's lunge to his feet faded his legs started to fold under him and he would have fallen except Sandy tightened his Dream Sand's hold on Jack's arms and chest keeping him up long enough for North to scoop Jack up.

Jack scanned the faces of the guardians: each of them had a look of worried family members and Jack stared at them. It hit him then that they really cared.

Three Hundred Years alone had left its mark on Jack. He had spent those 300 years tending to his own injuries and dealing with everything on his own. Finding the best ways to deal with injuries himself. And now, for the first time, as he looked around at the others hovering around him, took in the discarded vials and bandage wrappers, the sandy water bowls with washcloths draped over the bowls' edges, and the fact that he was defiantly less injured then when he had finally crash-landed in the desert sands, as he took in the muttered promises of revenge on his behalf, the anger in their eyes because he had been hurt…

Jack realized for the first time in his existence he didn't have to protect himself while he was healing, didn't have to find something to numb the pain of his injuries himself, didn't have to stitch up his own injuries, set his own bones. He realized he had people who he could lean on, people who would defend him when he couldn't do it himself and heal him when he was hurt.

"-ck! Jack!"

Jack focused on four sets of worried eyes and wondered when he had been placed in an Infirmary Bed.

"Jack…are you ok?"

And Jack smiled. Not the normal cocky half-smile, or a smirk, or a mischievous grin, but an honest smile that was loose and natural and reached his tired eyes, and it left the Guardian's wide eyed and staring as he answered

"I am now."

And then Jack was under again, trusting the others to watch over him while he recovered.

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**Whoo boy…There will be a PART TWO to this chapter where the Guardians find out who messed with Jack and make it very obvious that they didn't appreciate it. (Next chapter).**

**This would have been out sooner but I'm house/pet-sitting for someone with no internet so…**


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